Wife Arrested In Shooting Death Of Retired Arkansas State Trooper

LITTLE ROCK — The wife of the recently appointed director of the Arkansas State Parks Ranger Division faces a first-degree murder charge in his death, Pulaski County deputies said.

LITTLE ROCK — The wife of the recently appointed director of the Arkansas State Parks Ranger Division faces a first-degree murder charge in his death, Pulaski County deputies said.

Pamela Diane Digman, 55, of Roland was arrested in the shooting death of Jerry Digman.

She made an initial court appearance via video from the Pulaski County jail on Monday morning, about 12 hours after she was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, according to The Associated Press.

Pulaski County sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Carl Minden said Pam Digman called 911 at 11:39 a.m. Sunday and reported the shooting and her husband’s death. When deputies arrived at 11:58 a.m., they found Jerry Digman on the floor of the couple’s Roland home with multiple gunshot wounds.

According to police reports, Pam Digman told authorities said "shot her husband multiple times in their home after an altercation."

The booking photo of Pam Digman taken around 11:30 Sunday night showed she had a black and swollen eye and a large bruise on her forehead, plus two large bruise marks on her neck.

Public defender Betsy Johnston, representing Pamela Digman, told the judge that her client was caught off guard by her arrest on the murder warrant, the AP reported.

"Initially upon contact with the defendant, investigators told her they believed it to be self-defense," Johnston said. "They in fact made a statement to the news to that effect, told her she would be released later yesterday evening, told her sons she would be released later that evening. They believed it was self-defense. There’s nothing in that articulation of facts that suggests why they changed their mind."

Minden said Jerry Digman, 58, retired last fall after 31 years as an Arkansas state trooper. At retirement, Digman was a lieutenant in the Criminal Investigations Division. He previously served in the state police security detail under former Govs. Bill Clinton and Jim Guy Tucker. He also served as a state trooper in Union and Miller counties.